Feed-reversing mechanism for sewing-machines



(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 1.

' W. A. NEELY. FEED REVERSING MEGHANIMVI FOR SEWING MACHINES.

Patented Dec. 6, 1887.

.l-l w t w Q j/ R s y, l H wwNQI mm L, w O l K UMMW.

N. PETERS. Pho'vl'rhagripher. Washinghn. 0.0.

(No Model.) 3 Sheets- Sheet 2.

W. A. NEELY. FEED REVERSING MEGHANISM'POR SEWING-MACHINES. No. 374,551.Patented Dec. 6, 1887.

(No Model.) 3 SheetsShe et 3.

" W. A. NEELY.

FEED RBVEBSING MECHANISM FOR SEWING MAG'HINES. 'No. 374,551.PatentedDe'c. 6, 188.'7.-

Z 66 I jar/67120 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM A. NEELY, OF LYNN, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO THE WHEELER aWILSON MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF BRIDGEPORT, CONNECTICUT.

FEED -REVERSING MECHANISM FOR SEWING-MACHINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 374,551, dated December6, 1 887.

Application filed April 2, 1887. Serial No. 233,406. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern: Be it known that 1, WILLIAM A. NEELY, ofLynn, county of Essex, and State of Massachusetts, have invented anImprovement in Sewing-Machines, of which the following description, inconnection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, likeletters on the drawings representing like parts.

This invention relates more particularly to [C the feeding mechanism,whereby the same may be reversed quickly when it is desired to form astay for or add strength to a seam or for other purposes.

Herein I have shown my invention as apl5 plied to that form ofsewing-machine known as the Wheeler 85 Wilson, it being provided with apeculiar throat-plate having converging edges,brought togethersubstantially at the needle-hole, to thereby collect together theprojecting ends and threads called thrums at the under side of abutton-hole piece, in order that the said collected threads and ends maybe overstitched or whipped, as it is termed, down upon the under side ofthe Inaterial, the machine, in this embodiment of my invention,having-two eyepointed needles carried by a single needle-bar, the twoneedles, in connection with the usual rotating loop-taker of the Wheeler& \Vilson machine, forming 0 parallel rows of stitching.

lhe throat-plate and stitch-forming mechanism, herein to be described,are not of my invention; but the same have been heretofore employed; butin all instanceswhere such de- 3 5 vices have been employed inconnection with a button-hole piece, the parallel rows of stitching haveextended from the upper to the lower end of the button-piece, which isobjectionable because of the appearance of the two rows 0 of stitchesacross the button-piece from its top to the inner end of the uppermostbutton-hole.

In accordance with my invention the stitching, to bar and finish theinner ends of the button-hole of a button-piece,will be started at 4 5some point between adjacent button-holes, and the button-piece will befed by the feeding mechanism until the stitching is carried to one ofthe endmost button-holes of therow of button-holes, and then the feedwill be reversed,

the stitching taking place in the opposite direction, or being turnedback upon itself and carried to the button-hole forming the other end ofthe series of holes, and then the feed will be preferably again reversedfor a short distance, the reversal of the feed and-the making ofstitches backward in the line in which they had been previously madeserving to look, as it were, and fasten the seam.

My invention is also especially advantageous in connection with asewing-machine having an ordinary throat-plate and a single needle toco-operate with the under thread-carrier, for by reversing the feedquickly two or more stitches may be made back upon a previouslyformedline of stitching to fasten the seam-as, for instance, the seams inpantaloons or clothing of any sort, may be run their full length, andthe material be then fed in theopposite direction for a few stitches tofasten the seam, thus obviating tying knots or hand-finishing.

My invention consists, essentially, in the combination, with stitchforming and feeding mechanism, of a treadle located below the bedplate,by which to move that part of the feeding mechanism which determines thelength and direction of the stitch, whereby the direction in which thefeed operates may be immediately changed,while the machine is running atspeed,to stitch the material back upon itself, for the purposes ofstaying or strengthening the seam, substantially as will be described.

Figure 1 is an under side view of a sewingmachine embodying myinvention; Fig. 2, a view of the throat-plate removed, the feedpoints ofthe feed-bar beingin position. Fig. 3 is a partial detail of the frontend of the machine, chiefly to show the needle-bar, its needle,presser-bar, presser foot, throat-plate, and part of the bed-plate ofthe sewing-machine. Fig. 4 is a rear end view of the sewing-machineshown in Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is asection of Fig. 1 in the dotted line 00,looking toward the left; and Fig. 6 is a diagram showing a button-piececontaining button-holes, which may be barred or finished by the machineto be herein described; Fig. 7, a partial 1ongi-. tudinal verticalsection of the bed-plate, chiefly to show the feed-bar and the lever foractuatgroove of the cam 13, the link connected to the arm 4 of thefeed-actuating rock-shaft G,

and having at its other end a roller or other stud, 8, the link f, thearm f, the rock-shaft f, the disk 6 fastto the rock-shaft 13", the

cam e, the feed-lifting rock-shaft b, and its arm b are allsubstantially as in United States Patent No. 331,174, dated November24-, 1885, where like parts are designated by like letters, except as tothe presser-bar P.

The link B is in practice connected to an arm, 13*, of a loop-takershaft, B, having at its outer end a driver to drive a loop-taker, G,

(partially shown in Fig. 3,) in a loop-taker guide, D,aud thebobbin-case a, inclosing the bobbin containing the under thread, whichare and may be all as in United States Patent No. 328,165, the saidlooptaker entering the loop of needle-thread carried by the eye-pointedneedle- A, or, it may be two, such needles, as shown in Fig. 3, to forma stitch.

If both needles are used, the material will present at its upper sidetwo parallel rows of stitches. as shown in Fig. 6 by dotted lines, theloops of thread taken from both needles being locked by the same underthread.

The feed-lifting rock-shaft b has a feed-lift ing arm, I), which, as theshaft 1) is rocked, acts against the under side of and lifts the feedbarh, having usual points at h ,to at the proper time engage the materiallying on the throatplate m.

The feed-bar h is herein shown as arranged to slide longitudinally withrelation to the bed-plate A, the rear end of the feed-bar being forked(see Fig. 8) to embracea block, h on a pin, h".

The feed-bar h between its outer end and the block h is recessed toreceive in it one arm of an elbow-lever, n, pivoted at a under.

the bed-plate, the opposite end of the said lever being jointed, as at12 to a link, a, in turn jointed to the arm n of the feed-actuatingrock-shaft G.

Herein I have prolonged the segmental arm D, and extended the groovetherein across the auxiliary shaft D which is the center of motion forthe said arm, this being done so that by changing the position of theroller or other stud 8, carried by the link 0 in the said groove, fromone to the other side of the center of the rock-shaft D, the arm D willso move the feedactuating rock-shaft and the feedbar with relation tothe stitch-forming devices-viz. the needle or needles A and theloop-taker or other usual device for engaging the loop of needle-threadto pass through it, in

usual manner, the under thread-that the feedpoints It will be raised toengage the material, either when the feedbar is moving backward orforward, as may be desired, whichv enables the operator to reverse thedirection of movement of the material or its feed, as desired, over thebed-plate.

To enable the direction of movement of the feed and-of the material tobe changed-at will, and while the machine is running at high speed, Ihave provided the roek-shaftf with an arm,f, whichisjoined byaconnection,f a chain, cord, or equivalent, to a treadle or lever,fwhich, as herein shown, is so pivoted or mounted as to be actuated bythe foot of the operator when it is desired to reverse the direction ofthe feed, the turning of the shaftf causing the arm f, rod f, and link 0to be moved in one or the other direction to place the roller 8 at oneor the other side of the center of the auxiliary rock-shaft D". In thisway the hands of the operator are left free to control the work, bothhands being quite necessary when the machine is running at high speed;but I desire it to be understood thatinstead of the particular lever Dshown I may employ any other usual form of lever commonly employed inconnection with the t'eeding mechanism of sewing-machines.

The-throat-plate m, as herein shown, has a diverging slot, on, by whichto gather and collect together at the needle-bar m the thrums at theunderside of a button-hole piece, H, the button-holes of which have beenstitched by machine and not finished or stayed.

Fig. 6 shows a button-hole piece, H, having a series'of buttonholesstitched by machine, it having at its under side between eachbutton-hole and the one next to it, as usual, a staythread, anunder-thread, and the ends of the needle-thread. It has been customaryin this class, of work to whip down the said threads or to cover them byan under thread coopcrating with two eye-pointed upper threadcarryingneedles; but in all instances where this has been done, so far as I amaware, the stitching by the two needles referred to has been commencedat the end of the buttonpiece, as at a", and carried to the other end,as at :0. In practice it has been found that the two lines of stitching,from the uppermostand the lowermost button-holes to the ends of thebuttonpiece nearest them, is objectionable. To overcometheseobjectionsIstart the stitching made by the two needles A between theendmost button-holeas, for instance, at the point as", (see Fig. 6)andthen move the ma terial in the direction of the arrow as" thereon untilthe stitching has been carried to or just past the end of the hole as",and then I reverse the direction of the feed and the material, stitchingthe material in the opposite direction along the lines of stitching justmade and to the end of the button-hole m", and then I again reverse thefeed movement to make a ICC few stitches backward over those previouslymade to fasten the stitch.

It is obvious that stitches returned upon a line of stitches previouslymade make a se cure junction of parts,which cannot ravel out, addgreatly to the strength of the seam, and obviatethe necessity offinishing the end of a seam by a hand-operated needle.

If desired, I may commence the stitching on the button-piece at-thepoint at, stitch just across the end of the hole 00 reverse the feed,stitch to or across the end of the button-hole w, and again reversethefeed until the stitching again arrives at the point or. In likemanner when arriving at the end ofa seam in apair of pantaloons, themachine having, say;

but one needle, I may quickly reverse the feed to fasten the seam; or Imay reverse the feed for a greater or less distance when sewing any partof a garment upon which much strain is to be exerted in wear, thusstitching it over two or three times, and that without material loss oftime or stopping the machine, and.

without obliging the operator to remove her hands from the material.

The stops 6 e (shown as screws) may be adapted to secure exactly-thesame length of stitch in both directions of feed or a different lengthof stitch in one than in the other direc tion, or, by adj usting thestop e, the armf may be arrested in such position as to stop the feed,so that the needle will descend more than once in the same spot, whichresults in locking the stitch.

As herein shown, the two devices, which by their co-operation determinethe length of or the-other side of the center of the auxiliaryrock-shaftD the direction of the feedis changed.

The'gist of thisinvention consists in the provision of mechanism wherebythe reversal of the feeding mechanism may be done-through a treadle,thereby leaving the hands of the operator free to manipulate the work.

The arm f, shaftf, arm f, rodf, and link a O, auxiliary rock-shaft D andarm D constitute what I herein denominate as the feed regulating andreversing mechanism.

I desire it to be understood that my invention may be used with amachine having either one or two needles.-

The presser-foot 1) will in practice have two holes for the passage ofthe two needles, the

bottom of the presser-foot resting upon the surface of the materialbeing stitched.

I claim- 1. In a-sewing-machine, the combination, with stitch-formingmechanism, of the following instrumentalities, viz: the feed-bar, thefeed-actuating rock-shaft O, to which it is attached, the treadle, andfeed regulating and reversing mechanism, substantially as described,between the said treadle and the said rock-shaft, whereby the directionof the feed may be instantly changed while the machine In testimonywhereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence oftwo subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM A. NEELY. Witnesses:

G. W. GREGORY, O. M. CONE.

